CHILE: MEMEORY, JUSTICE, & EQUITY, IN AN EMERGING DEMOCRACY

CHILE : MEMORY , JUSTICE AND EQUITY IN AN EMERGING DEMOCRACY

2006

Introduction

Chile 's history is one of democracy on one hand and authoritarianism on the other . The experiences of the nation under the government headed by Allende which had a socialist leaning , was replaced by the Pinochet era run by a military government . Both administrations had social and economic policies that had a lasting impact on what Chile as a nation has achieved and lost . Existing groups that have emerged during Allende 's government and have struggled to exist in the

Pinochet era contributed to the history of Chile . Struggles of different groups have never disappeared despite the differing regimes that have governed Chile . Thus , all these experiences and the memories in both regimes are what makes up Chile . This hopes to explain the events that have taken place and the policies made during both Allende and the Pinochet era , and finally give its observations and comments on the subject

Allende 's Government

Allende 's government had been elected in 1970 on a platform of pioneering a democratic road to a democratic socialism (Winn 16 Allende recognized the new political force seeking to uphold the vast majority of the people which he hoped to accompany with profound changes in the socio-economic (Allende 169 . His Popular Unity coalition was a center-left alliance dominated by Socialist and Communist parties but including the centrist Radicals and Christian leftists (Winn 16 Allende 's Chilean Road to Socialism was a revolution whose goal was to prepare the way for future Chilean Socialism by winning an electoral majority for socialism and nationalizing the commanding heights of the economy (Winn 16 . The benefits were encapsulated in the Popular Unity program 's `forty points ' populist promises such as decent housing with proper sanitation , schools for children , enough food to eat everyday care for the sick and the old aged , and finally to wipe out the differences between the people and those of the privileged classes (Allende 177 . Allende then also asserted that the legal system needs to be modified to correspond to the needs of the people by the overthrow of capitalism (Allende 179

Allende 's structural changes included the expropriation of U .S . owned coppermines , state ownership of the country 's banks , nationalization of iron and other nitrate sources (Winn 16 . In addition , the Popular Unity completed the Agrarian reform begun by the Christian Democrats in 1967 transforming more than 4 ,400 landed estates into peasant cooperatives (Winn 16 . Foreign policy was also directed towards consolidation of peace and international cooperation (Allende 197

Because of this kind of policy , the worker 's and peasants who supported the advances toward socialism was said to have transformed into protagonists of their own (Winn 17 . Workers ' own projection of their views , desires and power went beyond factory gates and into the public spaces leading to more revolutionary advances (Winn 18 . These advances then reflected and generated tensions and political polarization (Winn 18 . With the tension growing , there was...